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Firefighters getting a handle on L.A.-area blaze

As hundreds of residents in suburban Los Angeles remained evacuated from a wildfire that continued to smolder Saturday, officials in drought-stricken California were beginning to take long-term action to deal with the conditions that helped fuel the blaze.

AZUSA, CA - JANUARY 17: A firefighting aircraft makes a fire retardant drop on the Colby Fire burning for a second day in the hillside above Highway 39 on January 17, 2014 in Azusa, California. The so-called Colby Fire, has burned about 1,700 acres in the Angeles National Forest north of Glendora and Azusa. (Photo by Jonathan Alcorn/Getty Images) ORG XMIT: 463484827 ORIG FILE ID: 463294495 (Photo: Jonathan Alcorn Getty Images)

Firefighters monitor the Colby Fire burning adjacent to Highway 39 in Azusa. Three men have been arrested and charged with starting the fire that has destroyed 1,700 acres of land and several homes in the San Gabriel Valley. (Photo: Jonathan Alcorn, Getty Images)

Firefighters douse the flames on a house in Glendora, Calif. on Jan. 16. Nearly 2,000 residents were evacuated and two homes burned in a wildfire that started early Thursday when three people tossed paper into a campfire in the dangerously dry and windy foothills of Southern California's San Gabriel Mountains, authorities said. (Photo: Will Lester, The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin via AP)

A fireman calls for more water on the burning Singer home above Glendora, Calif. The wildfire in the foothills of Southern California's San Gabriel Mountains burned a portion of the former Singer home, of sewing machine fame. (Photo: Will Lester, The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, via AP)

Jim Crawford, 67, and his daughter, Katie, 11, who live nearby, watch the wildfires burn through the hillsides in Glendora, Calif. A wildfire near Glendora in the San Gabriel Valley has prompted officials to order evacuations for houses near the fire. (Photo: Dan R. Krauss, Getty Images)

Anxious residents watch the progress of the San Gabriel Mountains wildfire in Glendora, Calif. The blaze has charred at least 125 acres by the Angeles National Forest. The wilderness area is about 25 miles from downtown Los Angeles. (Photo: Nick Ut, AP)

A man prepares to leave after spraying water on his home as firefighters battle a wildfire Jan. 16 in Azusa, Calif. A wildfire is burning out of control near homes in the dangerously dry foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. (Photo: Jae C. Hong, AP)

A plane drops fire retardant on the Colby fire near Glendora, Calif. "You really understand the magnitude of danger these firefighters risk while observing the orchestra of air support fighting the battle," says Your Take contributor Harrison Painter. (Photo: Harrison Painter, Your Take)

A resident makes a phone call on the roof of his home as a wildfire burns in the hills on Jan. 16 near the community of Glendora, Calif. Authorities have ordered the evacuation of homes at the edge of a fast-moving wildfire burning in the dangerously dry foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. (Photo: Ringo H.W. Chiu, AP)

Smoke from the Glendora wildfire is visible from Santa Monica, Calif., on Jan. 16, 2014. The fire, near Glendora about 30 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles, started early Thursday and quickly grew to more than 1,700 acres, authorities said. (Photo: Nicolas Michel, Your Take)

Hundreds of residents in suburban Los Angeles returned to their homes Saturday night as firefighters made significant progress battling a wildfire fueled by drought-stricken conditions in California.

Robert Brady, fire information officer for the Angeles National Forest, said two civilians had sustained minor injuries in the fire that burned 1,863 acres.

Brady said 1,800 personnel, 104 fire engines, three helicopters and four bulldozers were involved in firefighting efforts.

Crews focused on securing fire lines around the roughly 3-square-mile blaze and looked ahead to rehabilitating the burn area to prevent erosion and possible mudslides.

"It's starting to look fairly good," Brady told AP. "We're still in very dry conditions, so I would remind people to be careful out there."

The fire was 61% contained by late Saturday ET.

The Colby fire erupted early Thursday in the Angeles National Forest when Santa Ana winds hit a campfire that authorities said was recklessly set by three men, who were later arrested and are facing federal charges. Gusts quickly spread flames from the San Gabriel Mountains into Glendora and Azusa, where an estimated 3,700 people had to evacuate at the fire's peak.

Five homes were destroyed and 17 other houses, garages and other structures were damaged, Brady said.

Fortunately, firefighters weren't likely to find their jobs made harder by the winds, said Accuweather senior meteorologist Kristina Pydynowski.

"The Santa Ana winds aren't as strong as they were earlier in the week," she said. "There are still some localized areas where the winds will blow, probably late at night and in the early morning."

Meanwhile, Gov. Jerry Brown, who declared a drought emergency Friday, urged residents to cut water use by 20% and directed state agencies to take a range of steps to ease the effects of water shortages on agriculture, communities and fish and wildlife, the Los Angeles Times reported.

"We ought to be ready for a long, continued, persistent effort to restrain our water use," Brown said at a San Francisco news conference. "This is not a partisan adversary. This is Mother Nature. We have to get on nature's side and not abuse the resources that we have."

Conditions seemed unlikely to improve in the immediate future: Pydynowski said there's no rain in the forecast for at least the next week.

"They really need rain," she said. "This is (normally) the rainy season for California. So they need to get the rain and snow now to avoid problems down the road during the dry time of year."

Normally, Pydynowski said, the city of Los Angeles gets 3.12 inches of rain during the month of January. "They've had nothing, and here we are on the 18th," she said.

"At this same time of year that you would normally see rain in Los Angeles and San Francisco, you would see snow falling in the Sierras," Pydynowski said. "They rely on that snowpack to build in the Sierras during this time of year, and then it melts and (supplies water) in the spring and early summer."

Brown's drought proclamation follows the driest year on record in California and came as reservoir levels continue to drop.

"Farmers across California face wrenching decisions today, as well as in coming months," Wenger said in a statement. "Will they have enough water to plant crops, to water their livestock, and keep trees and vines alive? An additional concern is how many people they may have to lay off as a result of water shortages. Any way the state and federal governments can provide assistance in adding water to the system will help."

Brown's drought declaration calls on California agencies to launch a statewide conservation campaign, expedite voluntary water transfers by rights holders to districts in need of supplies and hire additional seasonal firefighters this year to respond to elevated wildfire risk, the Times reports. It stops short of statewide water rationing, although some Northern California communities have imposed rationing and others are asking residents to eliminate outdoor watering.

"We can't make it rain, but we can be much better prepared for the terrible consequences that California's drought now threatens, including dramatically less water for our farms and communities and increased fires in both urban and rural areas," Brown said.